Physical Violence :

Verbal Violence :

Shouting, insulting, abusing, making racist or sexist comments, etc.

Psychological Violence :

Humiliating the person in private or in public, belittling, disparaging, criticising without reason, monitoring, controlling, forbidding social relations with friends or family members; but also threatening to kill the person or to commit suicide, etc.

Indirect Violence :

Attacking people, objects or animals important to another person: hurting, rejecting, killing that person’s pet, damaging, breaking, destroying or removing an object which has an emotional value for the person, threatening to attack children or relatives, etc.

Economic Violence :

Monitoring the expenses of another person in an excessive way, preventing the management of their own money, not allowing them to have a bank account, keeping them from working, etc.

Sexual Violence :

Forcing another person to have sexual intercourse or humiliating sexual practices without their consent, disregarding the wishes of the other person, etc.

All other actions, behaviours, words which are frightening.

Legislation

The Grand-ducal Regulation of 24th November 2003 on the committee for cooperation among professionals in the field of combatting violence.

Figures and Statistics

The following figures highlight the seriousness and the extent of the problem of violence against women worldwide. However, these figures do not show the exact extent of this serious violation of human rights. They cannot be considered exhaustive and should be interpreted with caution. There is a serious lack of systematic research and statistics on violence against women. Many women do not report the violence they have suffered because they are ashamed, are afraid of being met with skepticism or disbelief, and fear they may undergo further violence.

And yet :

49.7% of the people against whom violence is committed are women.

At least one woman in three has been beaten or sexually abused in her life. In Europe, an estimated one in four women is a victim of violence in the course of her life.

One in five women is a victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime (WHO study, 1997).

Over 135 million women and girls have suffered female genital mutilation. Every year, two million girls are at risk of being mutilated (UN, 2002).

82 million girls aged 10 to 17 are married before their 18th birthday.

In 2003, at least 54 countries had laws that were discriminatory toward women (UN Special Reporter on Women).